The present invention relates to video and image applications, and more particularly to encoding a block of pixels, for example, in video and imaging applications.
Many different video compression mechanisms have been developed for effectively transmitting and storing digital video and image data. Compression mechanisms may use an “inter” frame encoding mode to encode temporal changes between corresponding pixels in consecutive frames and/or an “intra” coding mode to encode spatial changes between adjacent pixels within a single frame.
Inter coding modes take advantage of the fact that consecutive frames in a typical video sequence are often very similar to each other. For example, a sequence of frames may have scenes in which an object moves across a stationary background, or a background moves behind a stationary object. Intra coding modes take advantage of the correlation among adjacent pixels by extrapolating similar adjacent pixels to reduce spatial redundancies in video and image data. The respective intra (spatial) and inter (temporal) coding modes may be used together or separately to reduce the temporal and spatial redundancies in video data.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.